1) Recent nuclear projects plan for years to develop (never mind the extra years over the original plan). So there's financing, and the risk that the power economy / regulatory regime when the plant opens isn't what the planners expected.
2) $100M gets a small solar plant going [1]. $50m of that could get a quarter of it going. A nuclear plant ("economy of scale") gets nothing until it's done... $50m gets you a planning document.
"Overnight cost" matters.
[1] Actually, $10k gets a small (rooftop) solar plant going. Try that with a SMR in the back yard... :-)
1) Recent nuclear projects plan for years to develop (never mind the extra years over the original plan). So there's financing, and the risk that the power economy / regulatory regime when the plant opens isn't what the planners expected.
2) $100M gets a small solar plant going [1]. $50m of that could get a quarter of it going. A nuclear plant ("economy of scale") gets nothing until it's done... $50m gets you a planning document.
"Overnight cost" matters.
[1] Actually, $10k gets a small (rooftop) solar plant going. Try that with a SMR in the back yard... :-)